1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a blower unit in which a rotation shaft of a motor for driving a centrifugal fan is disposed horizontally and a water-prevention structure for preventing water from flowing into the motor is provided. The blower unit is suitable for an automobile air conditioner which can set an inside/outside air double layer mode in which both inside air (i.e., air inside a passenger compartment) and outside air (i.e., air outside the passenger compartment) are blown into the passenger compartment while being partitioned from each other.
2. Description of Related Art
In a conventional blower unit for an automobile air conditioner, a scroll casing has an outside air suction port for introducing outside air, and a centrifugal fan for sucking outside air from the outside air suction port is accommodated in the scroll casing. Further, a driving motor for driving the centrifugal fan is disposed to penetrate through the outside air suction port, and a rotation shaft of the driving motor is disposed horizontally. Therefore, when an inside/outside air double layer mode or an entire outside air mode is set so that outside air is introduced from the outside air suction port, water contained in outside air falls to an outer surface of the driving motor from an upper side by the specific gravity during raining or snowing, for example. On the other hand, the driving motor has a body case, and the driving motor is cooled by air flowing through the body case. Therefore, an opening for discharging the air is provided in the body case of the driving motor, for example. Thus, the dropped water flows into the driving motor from the opening, and operation performance and durability of the driving motor is decreased.